The curse of TNT

Arrrgghh! I should have known it. The initials TNT next to a Spurs home game always — always! — mean a late night and a foggy-brained morning after.

Throw in the playoffs, when NBA coaches substitute offense for defense like they were on an NFL sideline, and overtime, and you get a 3 hour, 10 minute game that finally expired around midnight. At least, I think it did. When the Spurs finally had the game in hand late in OT, I hit the sack and turned the radio on, but didn’t make it to the final horn. I’m sure there are lots of Spurs zombies like me, doing the undead shuffle around their offices this morning.

The lateness makes for a strange thought process. It’s bizarre to watch Brent Barry’s game-tying three-pointer tour the rim and take a side trip to the backboard before finally dropping through and think simultaneously, “Hooray!” and “(Expletive); I’m never going to get any sleep.”

Blame it on TNT syndrome. Fans know that anytime the Spurs are the caboose on a TNT doubleheader, it means a late night. Forget the listed start time of 8:30, an hour later than your typical home game. During the regular season, 8:50 was more like it (the network generally held up the start of the late game until the early game was finished). Last night’s game did tip off while Cleveland-Washington was still in progress, but it didn’t help much.

Thank goodness there’s only one more TNT game left on the Spurs-Kings schedule. But of course, it’s Game 4, which is allegedly set to tip off at 9 p.m. Sunday. Yeah, right. For everyone’s sake, the Spurs simply must get the W. Starting off the work week sleep-deprived is bad enough, but it sure beats being sleep-deprived and angry. Especially if it also means the series is OVER.